Salas village ②「××××××××」
I can hear someone’s voice in the darkness.
What is this, I feel like I’ve experienced this before.
Is it just my imagination?
「×××××××」
I don’t understand what you’re saying.
But, this voice is somewhat nostalgic. Do I know owner of this voice?
The area is filled with light.
As the light grows, the voice fades away.
I wanted to at least take a look at the face, but my body doesn’t move.
「See you」
I heard such voice at the end.
「Ah, good morning. Maika-san」
「Un, morning」
I wonder for how long was I asleep.
I’m absentminded.
Did I forgot something? If I can’t remember, than it probably wasn’t important.
I look around, it looks like I’m in a hut in Salas village.
Who carried me? I must give my thanks later.
「This time, you slept for only one day. The one who carried you is Charlotte-chan」
I see, I need to thank Charlotte later.
Still, communicating without words is pretty nice.
「The only ones who think that is my family and you, Maika-san」
Mira laughs after reading my mind.
「I don’t think that Celica and Charlotte would mind」
「That’s… right. They are gentle girls. But, please wait a little before you tell them. When I make up my mind, I will tell them myself」
「Yes, don’t overdo it」
「Yes」
I intended to pat Mira’s head, but my body doesn’t move because of pain.
Well, after having whole body carbonized that would be natural.
「Carbonized… You did well on surviving」
「I think even if I were to be torn to pieces I would survive. It would hurt though」
Anyway, I could erase the pain if I wished it.
But that way, after suffering serious injury, I would lost reason to move.
「Please rest in bed until the pain disappears just in case at least for today」
「N, I understand」
Mira left to help with the reconstruction of the village.
I’m alone in the hut.
I decided to check everyone’s status, because I didn’t do it for a long time.
Sara Lv113 Talent 9
Skills
– Magic 《Fire》Lv18
– Magic 《Wind》Lv14
– Magic 《Water》Lv12
– Detection Lv35
– Sword Lv23
– Perception Lv16
Mira Lv111 Talent 9
Skills
– Magic 《Light》Lv20
– Cooking Lv14
– Bow Lv18
– Hawk eyes Lv14
– Appraisal Lv3
– Negotiations Lv2
Celica Lv105 Talent 8
Skills
– Blacksmithing Lv3
– Hammer Lv8
– Evasion Lv12
– Great sword Lv25
– Guard Lv11
– Cooking Lv8
Charlotte Alister Lv114 Talent 10
Skills
– Magic 《Darkness》Lv24
– Flight Lv30
– Automatic recovery Lv5
– Grapple Lv9
– Evasion Lv13
– Magic chanting Lv20
– Claws Lv12
… This is, somehow ridiculous.
This is probably due to the ma.s.sacre of the dungeon.
The level increased, but the skills didn’t grow much.
The reason Charlotte levels faster is because of her talent level?
Umu, to raise their skills levels and combat experience I shouldn’t involve myself in fights. However, I want to fight…
Then, should I fight and raise their levels to the extent no one would get injured?
… Un, I would prefer this option.
Well, I will consult this with everyone later.
Still, Charlotte uses the weapon I made her properly.
I didn’t expect her to use it when I gave it to her, I’m quite happy.
I will look at my status next.
Name: Maika Lv1000
MP：1000
STR：1000
VIT:1000
AGI：1000
INT：1000
DEX：1000
[Skills]
Dual wielding Lv100
Detection Lv100
Katana Lv100
Action limit release Lv100
Grapple Lv100
Coercion Lv100
Perception Lv100
Automatic Recovery Lv100
Abnormal State ImmunityLv100
Growth Lv100
Hero Lv－
Gathering Lv100
Cooking Lv100
Search Lv100
Appraisal Lv100
Stealth Lv100
Blacksmithing Lv100
Sewing Lv100
Woodworking Lv100
Alchemy Lv100
Craftsmanship Lv100
Magic 《Fire》Lv100
Tenacity Lv1
Fire resistance Lv1
Fumu, didn’t get any strange skills. I got Fire resistance and Tenacity after the fight with Cerberus.
I close the status screen.
What to do, I have nothing to do.
I intended to craft from the monster materials I got in the dungeon, but because there is enough s.p.a.ce only to dismantle 1 monster at the time, the present situation is kinda difficult for me.
My body hurts when I move.
Next time, I will fight a way that doesn’t require me to destroy my body.
If I get injured it will be my loss,
Think of it, the troll, Cerberus, the possessed armor, why they were so strong?
If I am not mistaken, Cerberus and Troll were one of the 13 soldiers of the Evil G.o.d. I feel like that’s what he said.
If that’s the case, then I’m looking forward to meeting next 11 soldiers. No, if I include the armor 10?
However, I feel like the armor was something different…
「I quit」
I wouldn’t know even if I think about it, I close my eyes.
To begin with, I don’t need to know if the enemy is evil or not.
I just need to know how to defeat it. That’s all.
After I closed my eyes, I slowly start to fall asleep.
That’s good, I don’t have anything to do, it would be nice to fall asleep just like this.
I suddenly wake up.
It looks like I slept for a while, it’s pitch-black in the hut, I don’t hear anything aside from the girls sleeping.
I use stealth to not wake up anyone and go outside of the hut.
The pain almost disappeared.
I will not have any problems moving around normally.
I think the whole village is asleep, the night is tranquil.
The only thing I hear is dog’s howling somewhere far away.
「Ano…」
「N?」
When I came out of the hut to do some light exercise, Sara called to me.
Ah, Sara’s Detection skill leveled up significantly.
It’s natural for her to detect this presence.
「Are you going somewhere? I felt some nasty presence, so I woke up」
「Uh…」
Now, what should I do?
At this rate, it seems Sara can’t understand what this enemy is.
To be honest, I don’t want Sara to follow me.
The enemy goes in this direction, they are large in numbers, but the enemy isn’t of the level that would hurt Sara.
But the type of opponent is the problem.
「It would be better for you to go sleep. I will take care of it」
「Are the monsters coming here?」
「No, bandits」
「I will go too!」
After hearing about the opponent, Sara answered immediately with angry tone.
… Was it bad that I answered honestly?
Sara’s and Mira’s parents were killed by the bandits. It’s natural they want to take revenge with their own hands.
「No, it’s better if you would go to sleep」
「No, please let me go with you!」
「Are you going to kill humans? I don’t know what to do with them if you keep them alive」
「… It’s alright. I will do it」
I thought with that she would back off, this is quite unexpected.
Her body trembles with fear, after hearing she would need to kill them. However, she looks firmly in my eyes with determination.
After seeing her eyes I can’t refuse.
Even if I had refused, she would probably follow me selfishly.
「I understand. However, you will properly listen to me」
「Yes, thank you very much!」
If possible I wanted to avoid killing a human before the girls, but I certainly didn’t want them to become murderers themselves. Well, can’t be helped.
Sara bowed once and went inside the hut to get her equipment.
「Haa…」
When I think about it again, I leak a big sigh.
I wish to protect everyone, a gentle 12 years old girl is going to kill a person, it’s impossible to be calm.
In the other words, after beating the bandits, I must take care of Sara’s mental health…
That’s my weak point though…
It’s better to not allow Sara to do anything, should I kill them in one blow? Un, I will do that.
「I’m sorry to keep you waiting」
「Then, let’s go」
「Yes」
Sara who prepared, left the hut without waking up anyone.
As usual she’s nervous, in the meantime, the bandits had gotten near, there’s no time to take it slow.
Me and Sara quietly left the village.
「There」
I detected bunch of bandits about 300 meters ahead. About 70 people in total. Quite a lot.
I get behind the bandits quietly.
Because both of us have a Stealth skill, the bandits didn’t notice most of the attacks.
I hold Sara’s hand, because she is still nervous, I feel my hand getting wet from her sweat.
「Are you okay?」
「Yes. They are the bandits that attacked us. There’s no doubt. It’s revenge for papa and mama. I will absolutely kill them」
When we found the bandits, Sara’s eyes were glaring, but her body trembling.
I grasp her hand to rea.s.sure her a little, she calmed a little, the trembling slowly subsides as I can’t feel it anymore in the hands.
But, seeing her like this, I don’t want her to become murderer even if it’s to take a revenge for her parents.
I tell Sara the strategy.
Even if I say strategy, it’s only defeating the guys that survived my magic attack.
It will end our most silent a.s.sa.s.sin skill, once attacking the Stealth will be turned off, because I can’t use it again until I get out of line of sight, I can’t use this skill again.
I also tell Sara to use only magic, not her sword.
Rather to cut them directly with sword, using magic to kill people may lower the feeling of guilt.
However I plan to finish it all by myself.
Sara nods quietly to my strategy.
Verifying that, I conjure magic power to use magic.
The fire magic I’m going to use is second in area damage only to Explosion.
「Inferno」
A giant wave of lava appears in front of me, the bandits who were celebrating at the moment were swallowed instantly.
The bandits were unaware of the wave until the end, even bones are not left behind, aside from one bandit everyone else completely disappeared from this world.
The last remaining bandit, was a bandit who still could be called a young boy, the instant I cast magic, he turned his back by a chance, saw the wave of lava and run away, so he somehow survived.
That being said, his lower part of the body has touched the lava, he will probably die in a moment.
But, if I keep him alive without killing him, I don’t know what could happen if I leave him here, so I deliver the killing blow. I don’t know what could happen because of the Hero skill, so I carefully burn the corpse. There is a chance he could be revived from the dead.
「Let’s go home」
I confirm that the bandit is dealt with and look back at Sara.
Something is wrong. Sara won’t look me in the eye, her body is shaking. After all, it becomes like this?
「Maika-san is…」
「N?」
「Don’t you feel bad to kill people?」
「…」
I get tense after hearing Sara’s question.
To be honest, I don’t feel anything at all.
However, if I answer honestly, I don’t what how will Sara look at me from now on.
That said, even if I lie, it won’t be convincing at all, since I killed them without hesitation.
「…No」
「Is that so…」
As a result of being at loss, I answered honestly.
If possible I don’t want to lie to the girls, there’s no way to deceive them.
「… I couldn’t do it. Even I thought I could take a revenge for papa and mama. However, after I saw the face of the last bandit, I became conscious of killing this person, my body suddenly stopped working. Even though these bandits were papa’s and mama’s enemy! Even I though I would kill them all! Even though… I…」
After saying that, Sara couldn’t stand anymore, I caught her sobbing while she was falling down.
I who don’t have any feelings while killing people can’t understand how Sara feels at the moment.
But, Sara is crying now and I don’t know what to say.
「…」
Once I try to say something, my mouth immediately closes.
I can’t think of words of comfort. What should I say at times like these.
It was failure. If I knew things became like this, I wouldn’t take Sara with me. I bite my lip unconsciously while thinking of how worthless I am.
「It’s alright. Just let me handle all the painful things」
After all, this was what I came up after thinking desperately, Sara cried until she fell asleep, it was possible to hug the body of young girl to comfort her, but I couldn’t do it.